Will You Be Able to Retire Comfortably?

You’re doing great! You’re doing all the right things!

You’re building a reputation for yourself at work, squirreling away 9.5% of your salary into your Super every month.

You’ve bought your own home and have been dutifully chipping away at the mortgage.

You may even have managed to pay off your debt (debt created in order to get qualifications for said work and to furnish said home).

Congratulations, you’re living the Ozzie dream! High-five, or fist bump (are high-fives still cool with the over 5 crowd?)!

But is it enough? Will your house be paid off and will that Super amount to $368,928 by the time you reach pension age at 67?

Why $368,928?

Right now, that is how much savings or Super the ASFA Retirement Standard estimates that the average Australian who has paid off their own home will need, over and above the Age Pension, in order to retire and live comfortably for 13 years.

SuperGuide states: “Living on this [comfortable] level of after-tax income means you can enjoy more recreational activities. Also, you can afford to purchase higher level private health insurance, higher quality household goods and travel regularly. Even so, a ‘comfortable’ lifestyle isn’t outlandish.”

You do the math. You very well might be able to achieve that figure, maybe just barely, if you’re lucky and nothing goes wrong:

• If you choose to work until you’re at least 67;
• If your employment term remains unbroken;
• If you remain physically healthy enough to work until age 67;
• If the economy and inflation remain stable;
• If your Super continues to return 5% each year during retirement;
• If the government doesn’t keep pushing out the age requirement for the Age Pension (do you really want to work until 70?) and increasing the Age Pensions asset threshold amount, in order to try and deal with a burgeoning aging population.

So, What Else Could You Do?

1. You could win the lottery;
2. You could inherit a fortune;
3. You could move in with your kids and look after the grand-kids;
4. You could sell a kidney on the black market;
5. You could enter hole-in-one golf contests (odds of approximately 12,500 to 1 for the average golfer);
6. You could pose as a nude model for art students.

But if those don’t work out for you, you could try these 7 steps instead. Download Custodian’s free 7 Steps to Wealth eBook for a proven, step-by-step guide to property investment and get a free phone consultation with one of our investment strategists. Your future self would high-five you for it (because you don’t care what’s cool when you’re old)!

So, what’s your game plan?